“Only a very, very small percentage of women who need abortions will be able to access them in Ireland,” she told The Guardian. “Women pregnant as result of rape, women with fatal foetal anomalies, couples who simply can’t afford to care for a (or in most cases, another) child, will still be left behind.”

Ireland’s quietest export—women who travel to the UK seeking an abortion—is often referred to in the country’s ferocious abortion debate. But the less publicized practice of self-administering—when Irish women order their own “abortion pills” online—is actually much more common.

“Given that the Irish government has now had more than 22 years to legislate on the X case, I’m not sure what the holdup is but then I’m not an expert on Irish abortion law. I am an expert in what happens to women when access to abortion is restricted. “Even if this law is…

“The reason we do this is because we know when you restrict abortion you don’t stop abortion, you just make it that when faced with unplanned pregnancy women with money have options and women without money have babies or try really desperate and dangerous things,” Clarke said.

“The leaflet is a one-stop shop that tells women which local organisations can provide unbiased information about all their options, contact details for clinics in England and information on where to turn to for financial help or access to early medical abortion pills,” Clarke said. “This information needs to be put into the hands of…

“It is a testament to how truly horrific the situation currently is for Irish women who have an unplanned pregnancy, that this proposed legislation is actually a victory,” said Mara Clarke, founder and director of the Abortion Support Network.

Mara Clarke, director of the Abortion Support Network Falling government abortion statistics can be misleading: we know of many women who give the address of a friend or relative or a fake address, plus literally hundreds if not thousands who have accessed early medical abortion pills online, or worse, who self aborted in other more…

ASN was featured in Le Monde on April 1st, 2013. The article is available as a PDF: Le Monde – Ireland – abortion – April 2013